


What do you think about Ash?

by railou



Series: New Series Ficlets [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: (only in mention), Ash is chaotic good, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Episode Related, Episodes SS002-SS010 related, Friendship, Gen, Go has friendship issues, Go has trust issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23475829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/railou/pseuds/railou
Summary: Goh has some doubts about Ash and about friendship in general. He attempts to understand his feelings. Ash, meanwhile, is just being the chaotic good that he is.Set during New series episodes 2 to 10.
Relationships: Gou | Goh & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: New Series Ficlets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676848
Comments: 9
Kudos: 259





	What do you think about Ash?

**Author's Note:**

> Hhh I don't know guys, I just sat down and wrote this for some reason. 
> 
> (So, really quickly and not with a lot of deep thought)
> 
> This is tagged Gen since personally I don't ship Ash with anyone at the moment. Goh definitely has a crush though, but that's beside the point.  
> You can, of course, see this however you like!
> 
> (Edits: Koharu -> Chloe, and Go -> Goh!)

”What do you think about Ash?” Goh asks Chloe that evening, after supper. After they had made their way back from the field. Where _Lugia_ had dropped them off.

Chloe shrugs. “That new kid? A bit strange. Is he going to stick around or what?”

“Didn’t you hear?” asks Goh, mildly annoyed. Typical Chloe to not give a shit about _anyone_. “He’s moving into the Institute with me.”

“Really?” Chloe purses her lips. “But he seems a bit like…”

Goh crosses his arms. “Like what?”

“Like trouble.”

Goh pauses. She’s not _wrong_ , exactly.

“He seems cool”, he argues then. “He’s super into pokemon and really funny.”

Chloe huffs. “Yamper doesn’t like him.”

Goh rolls his eyes. “ _Yamper_ doesn’t like anyone, Chloe. What’s your point?”

Chloe does not look impressed.

“Did you really ride on Lugia?” she asks suddenly.

“Yes”, says Goh smugly. “It was so amazing! It took us high into the sky and deep underwater and then we flew way outside of town! But then it just left us there… Can you imagine? In the middle of nowhere! That’s why we were so late today!”

He realizes he’s explaining with his hands, getting too carried away, and he quickly folds his arms back around his body. Chloe is looking at him strangely, and he hopes he only _feels_ like he’s blushing with embarrassment.

“You really like him”, she observes quietly.

“I don’t!” Goh yells out of habit. Chloe raises her eyebrows at him, and _now_ Goh is blushing. “I mean…”

“Uhuh”, she drawls, and Goh glares at her.

“Just… just look after yourself, Goh”, she says then, seriously. “Is he actually nice or do you just _want_ him to be nice? You don’t really know him yet, after all.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that”, mutters Goh.

“I’m just saying”, says Chloe pointedly.

Goh glances through the big window and sees Ash outside playing with his Pikachu. He’s grinning from ear to ear, eyes fixed on his little companion, and he doesn’t _look like_ he could hurt anyone, but then again, they usually don’t.

“You don’t know him either”, he says then, low, uncertain. “I feel like I can trust him.”

Chloe leans her chin on her hand and looks at him closely.

“Okay. Just don’t come back crying to me if he turns out to be one of those jerks.”

Goh grins. She says that, every time, but she’s never complained before.

“What do you think about Ash?” Goh asks Scorbunny one night as they sit on the Institute roof and gaze at the luminous full moon above them.

Scorbunny doesn’t answer, of course, but it stops playing with the firefly it picked up from somewhere, tilts its head and looks up at him.

“Do you think he’s nice?” Goh asks, and Scorbunny nods empathically. “But he’s a bit weird, isn’t he?”

Scorbunny nods again and grins widely.

“You like that?”

“Scor!”

It hops on its feet and explains eagerly, its little hands waving, and Goh has no idea what it’s saying.

He needs Ash for things like that.

“Hey, calm down!” Goh laughs, when Scorbunny just keeps going. “I get it, you think he’s funny, right? But… do you think he’s honest? Can we… can we trust him?”

Scorbunny stills, and it has a similar look in its eyes as Chloe had, a couple of days ago.

“Buni?”

“I guess you wouldn’t really get it”, Goh muses. “He’s just… so unlike any of the other kids I know. What’s up with that? What if he’s just putting up an act?” He pauses, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Ugh, I don’t even really know what I’m complaining about…”

He looks ahead, far over the city and down at the calm, glimmering ocean. At the place where he first saw Lugia.

In just a week, his life has turned upside down. He has travelled a lot, got his first own pokemon and then more, had some crazy adventures and now he even has an actual _friend_ to stress about.

He thinks about Ash protecting the bulbasaur and ivysaur with his body. He thinks about Ash mistaking the crossing signals in Galar for the dynamax phenomena. He thinks about Ash climbing the giant snorlax like it was as easy as a walk in a park for him.

“You like him, right?” he asks Scorbunny after a moment of silence.

It looks at him with bright eyes and whips its head up and down so fast it’s a blur. “Scorbu!”

“I like him too”, mutters Goh, and maybe that’s enough for now.

“What do you think about Ash?” whispers Goh, one quiet morning, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

He’s still exhausted. Last evening Ash and he came back from Dragonite Island. From an island that, just one day ago, was only a rumor.

Chloe was right, he thinks idly. Ash _is_ trouble. But not quite in the way they were afraid of.

He’s freedom, and adventure, and an unyielding source of support. He’s reckless and silly and unafraid when it comes to helping others. But then again, when he wants to be, he can be observant and thoughtful as well. He’s nothing like those jerks Goh has spent his whole life avoiding.

The bathroom door bangs open and Ash barges in. He trips on the floormat, yells incoherently and grabs the sink for support, breathing hard.

“Oh man Goh, you won’t _believe_ what I just saw outside!” he shouts right into his ear, arms flying in every direction, Pikachu perched precariously on the top of his head. “Wanna come see?”

His shirt is inside out, and even though it’s barely eight in the morning, he’s acting like he just downed Goh's entire supply of energy drinks, his whole body vibrating with excitement.

Goh can’t help but throw his head back and laugh; so hard that tears build in the corners of his eyes.

Ash grins widely at him and Goh turns away from the mirror and grins back.

“Alright”, he laughs. “Let’s go!”


End file.
